Galatasaray to have a go at United kids

Fatih Terim is hoping for a historic night for Galatasaray AŞ when they host Group H winners Manchester United FC. Galatasaray lead both CFR 1907 Cluj and SC Braga by a single point and Terim urged his club's supporters to get behind his team as they bid to strengthen their hold on second place in a "complicated" section. Sir Alex Ferguson, meanwhile, is eager to give a new generation of United talent a showcase.

Galatasaray
Fatih Terim, coach
I don't understand why the media are focusing on Manchester United's Istanbul squad. We shouldn't dwell too much on it because it's still Man Utd who you're facing in the end.

Our group is very complicated. There are two teams on four points and one team with three. Unfortunately we gave away those three points [when losing at home to Braga]. At the start of the campaign, I said that every goal scored and every goal conceded would count. Now we see this becoming a reality. If we had drawn against Braga, we could have guaranteed our place in the next round by beating United. The best thing now is us and Cluj winning tomorrow. That will give us a great advantage if no guarantees. At least, we'd have an advantage before the final match [in Braga].

It's clear that this match is one of the most important games in Galatasaray's history. Hopefully, tomorrow we'll see a historic night at Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi. I am sure that the fans will be putting a lot of effort into their preparations for the game and will support us until the final whistle.

Weekend result
Friday: Galatasaray 1-3 Kardemir Karabükspor (Yılmaz 31; Özek 22, Yıldız 35, Parlak 90+1)
Muslera; Eboué, Nounkeu, Cris, Hakan Balta; Hamit Altıntop (Engin Baytar 61), Selçuk İnan, Felipe Melo (Amrabat 69), Emre Çolak; Burak Yılmaz, Umut Bulut (Elmander 46).

• Karabükspor inflicted Galatasaray's first home defeat in the league since 22 April.

Team news
Terim promised "two changes" from the Karabükspor game but did not name names. He added that his squad were all fully fit save for Aydın Yılmaz who has flu, although "that won't prevent us using him if needed".

United
Sir Alex Ferguson, manager
Our players have played challenging games in various parts of the world and I believe they will be at their best. We don't consider the young players a gamble. What we do consider is our reputation and we have to be fair to the other teams in the group. We are very conscious of how to pick our team. It will be a good occasion to see our young players introduce themselves to the public and the media. Our aim is to win.

In the UEFA Champions League this season, we saw some interesting results, like Celtic beating Barcelona and BATE defeating Bayern München. Those occasions show the increasing quality of the Champions League.

In 1993 [when United first visited Galatasaray, drawing 0-0], the atmosphere was incredible. We've been here a few times and we've seen Turkish enthusiasm and passion. It's fantastic.

Weekend result
Saturday: Norwich City FC 1-0 United (Pilkington 60)
Lindegaard; Rafael, Smalling, Ferdinand (Anderson 80), Evra; Valencia (Scholes 69), Carrick, Giggs, Young; Van Persie; Hernández (Welbeck 70).

• United's five-match winning run on their travels in the Premier League ended on Saturday, allowing Manchester City FC to claim top spot.

Team news
Sir Alex plans to give defender Phil Jones a run-out, but Shinji Kagawa and Nemanja Vidić (both knee) remain on the injury list. "Shinji Kagawa's progress has been quite slow," he said. "He's not started any outside work and we're looking at another four weeks away, which is disappointing."

Match fact
• Darren Fletcher scored when United prevailed 3-0 at Bursaspor in the 2010/11 group stage on their last visit to Turkey. Paul Scholes struck the only goal when they were last in Istanbul, beating Beşiktaş JK in the 2009/10 group stage.